§ 35.917-2 - State responsibilities.

(a) Facilities planning areas. Facilities planning should focus upon the geographic area to be served by the waste treatment system(s) of which the proposed treatment works will be an integral part. The facilities plan should include the area necessary to prepare an environmental assessment and to assure that the most cost-effective means of achieving the established water quality goals can be implemented. To assure that facilities planning will include the appropriate geographic areas, the State shall:

(1) Delineate, as a preliminary basis for planning, the boundaries of the planning areas. In the determination of each area, appropriate attention should be given to including the entire area where cost savings, other management advantages, or environmental gains may result from interconnection of individual waste treatment systems or collective management of such systems;

(2) Include maps, which shall be updated annually, showing the identified areas and boundary determinations, as part of the State submission under section 106 of the act;

(3) Consult with local officials in making the area and boundary determinations; and

(4) Where individual systems are likely to be cost-effective, delineate a planning area large enough to take advantage of economies of scale and efficiencies in planning and management.

(b) Facilities planning priorities. The State shall establish funding priorities for facilities planning in accordance with §§35.915 and 35.915-1.